N.H. team sets national record with 76th baseball win in row

By Jim Halley, USA TODAY

Portsmouth (N.H.) baseball coach Tim Hopley looked down his bench after his Clippers defeated Pembroke (N.H.) Academy 10-2 on Thursday and smiled, noticing every player in the midst of a media interview.

By Jim Cole, AP

Quinn McCann, left, douses coach Tim Hopley after Portsmouth (N.H.) set a national record with its 76th consecutive victory.

Quinn McCann, left, douses coach Tim Hopley after Portsmouth (N.H.) set a national record with its 76th consecutive victory.

"I can't wait to see what they all said," Hopkins said.

Portsmouth's win was its 76th in a row, a national record that surpassed the 75 consecutive wins by Homer (Mich.) over the course of the 2004-2005 seasons. Hopkins tried to keep a semblance of normalcy, as his team did its usual postgame handshakes with Pembroke Academy and met in right field immediately after the game, but he couldn't avoid a celebratory ice bath.

"I tried some of my best moves, so they only got me a little wet," he said.

It was a long way from Hopley's start at the school 16 years ago, when he inherited a team in the midst of a losing streak, only to lose his first 10 games.

"The strides the program has made are pretty significant," Hopley said. "I'm not sure if our players all realize that."

Portsmouth's winning streak began three seasons ago, and none of the current players on the team has lost a varsity baseball game. The Clippers, 13-0 this season, are three-time defending state Division II champions (formerly Class I). Their last loss came in the quarterfinals of the 2007 state playoffs.

As has been its trend all season, Portsmouth had solid pitching. Sophomore Rick Holt didn't allow a runner until the fourth inning. He went the distance, allowing five hits while striking out four.

Portsmouth scored first with five runs in the second. Matt Main hit a two-run double, another run scored on a passed ball, and Billy Hartman and Connor McCauley followed with RBI singles.

Portsmouth added a run in the fourth when Main walked and scored on a wild pitch. In the bottom of the inning, Pembroke's Pat Flanagan hit a two-run single.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Clippers took a 9-2 lead when Main hit a sacrifice fly and McCauley a two-run single. Matt Feeney pushed the lead to 10-2 in the sixth on an RBI single.

After the game, Portsmouth's police department met the team bus at a traffic circle and gave them an escort into Portsmouth.

"We don't normally get a police escort — that usually only happens when we win a state championship, but the administrators felt that this was pretty significant," Hopley said. "Now the goal is to put this behind us and worry about our next game and the playoffs."

Portsmouth's streak gets its next test Monday, when the Clippers are scheduled to play rival St. Thomas Aquinas High (Dover). In the teams' last meeting on May 2, Portsmouth managed a 4-3 win.

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